55bmw online casino
When Seuk Kim took off from Maryland last weekend with three small dogs aboard his plane, it was the latest of many volunteer flights he had made to rescue animals in need. After realizing a childhood dream of becoming a pilot, Kim transported cats and dogs from disaster areas, overcrowded shelters and other misfortunes — including a dog trapped for days in a shipping container — to rescue groups. He lined up other aviators to do the same. But Sunday's flight to New York was his last. Kim's 1986 Mooney M20J crashed in the snowy woods of the Catskill Mountains, killing the 49-year-old pilot and one of the dogs, authorities said. The other two pups survived and were recovering Tuesday. “There are very few people like Seuk in this world. He has no ulterior motives. He never needed recognition,” said Sydney Galley, a fellow rescue flight volunteer. “He just wanted to help.” RELATED STORY | 'Need all the help I can get': Hurricane-related IV shortage landed woman in hospital for 6 weeks Whiskey — a 4-month-old Labrador-mix puppy who was found huddled in the snow with two broken legs — was doing well while awaiting surgery at Pieper Memorial Veterinary emergency and specialty hospital in Middletown, Connecticut. Videos showed the tawny pup getting belly rubs, licking a staffer’s face and, later, calmly looking around while having a leg bandage changed. The other surviving dog, an 18-month-old Yorkshire terrier mix called Pluto, was found Monday with minor injuries. By Tuesday, Pluto was at the Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley, the New York organization that had been set to receive all three dogs. The third was a 5-pound (2.3-kg) puppy named Lisa, Galley said. The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday that the aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances in mountainous terrain. National Transportation Safety Board investigators were at the crash site. Greene County Sheriff Peter Kusminsky has said visibility was poor Sunday and that Kim sought permission to change his altitude because of turbulence before the plane went down in early evening. Galley said the aircraft — Kim's third plane, purchased in recent months — was equipped with technology to help locate it in an emergency. Still, it took authorities until about midnight Sunday to find the aircraft, which was in about a foot of snow a couple of miles from the nearest road, the sheriff said. Kim lived with his wife and their three children in Springfield, Virginia. Originally from South Korea, he “came to this country with little but a dream, and through hard work and perseverance, he built a life of meaning and generosity,” cousin Christine Kim said in a Facebook message. “Witty, spontaneous, and full of boundless generosity,” he combined a caring heart with a sense of adventure, the Kim family said in an online obituary. RELATED STORY | 'Need all the help I can get': Hurricane-related IV shortage landed woman in hospital for 6 weeks Seuk Kim had worked in fields including public relations and marketing. His family said he had pastimes including cooking and following baseball, but he had long aspired to fly. He eventually made that wish come true, and Galley said Kim recently told friends that he had landed a job with a charter flight company. “He was on top of the world,” she said. Kim started flying rescue dogs about four years ago and became a dedicated volunteer who handled as many as three flights a week and helped line up other pilots, Galley said. Unfazed by huge dogs, cats that other pilots didn't want to fly, or animal potty accidents, he responded to virtually any request with a smile and “sure, I can do that,” she recalled. Earlier this year, he flew “Connie the container dog,” the canine found in a shipping container at the Port of Houston, according to Galley and to a post on his memorial website. After Hurricane Helene struck parts of the Southeast this fall, Kim helped fly planeloads of generators and other supplies to hard-hit western North Carolina and even acquired a pickup truck to drive in hay for farms, Galley recalled. Penny Edwards of Forever Changed Animal Rescue, one of the groups Kim helped with Helene response, called him “a huge asset to not just us but the entire rescue community.” “Our hearts are shattered,” she wrote in an email Tuesday. Maggie Jackman Pryor, the Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley’s executive director, said Kim helped save hundreds of animals over the years. Among them were a dog and her five puppies that he flew in October to Cathy West of Kuddles & Kisses K9 Rescue in Baltimore. The mixed-breed dog had been on a list to be euthanized at an overfilled shelter in Tennessee, West said. “He was so involved in trying to get the word out to volunteer, to other pilots — that this is a good thing to save these dogs so that they don’t die in shelters,” she said. On Sunday, Galley said, Kim picked up four dogs at a Virginia airport where her husband had just transported them from Georgia. After excitedly telling her husband about his new charter-plane job, Kim took off, dropped a big dog at a small airport in Maryland, and headed on with the rest toward Albany, New York. She imagines that he apologized to his canine passengers as the plane went down. “He always,” she said, “put everybody ahead of himself.”For 90 minutes on Christmas Day, TV was a glorious, happy, woke-free zone again with Gavin & StaceyAncelotti says Bellingham is 'fine' after Real Madrid midfielder substituted with apparent leg issue
Macron, Trump, Zelensky discuss crazy world in Paris PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday hosted three-way talks with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump, discussing what the American president-elect termed a world that was a “little crazy”. Zelensky’s meeting with Trump just before the three men headed to Notre Dame for the re-opening ceremony of the great Paris cathedral was his first face-to-face meeting with tycoon-turned-politician since his election victory. The meeting was of huge importance to Zelensky given the fears in Kyiv that Trump, who once boasted he could end Russia’s war on Ukraine in 24 hours, may urge Ukraine to make concessions to Moscow. It offered a unique chance for Macron to gain insights into how a second Trump presidency will shape out when he takes office in January, with the trip to Paris his first international visit since the election win. Trump and Macron embraced and shook hands several times on the steps of the French presidential palace, with Trump given a full guard of honour despite not yet being in office. “It seems like the world is going a little crazy right now and we will be talking about that,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to sit down for the talks with Macron. Despite tensions between the two men during his first term, Trump hailed his ties with the centrist French leader, saying: “We had a great relationship as everyone knows. We accomplished a lot.” Macron told Trump it was “a great honour for French people to welcome you” for the re-opening ceremony at Notre Dame, which was devastated by a blaze in 2019 during Trump’s first term. “You were president at that time and I remember the solidarity and the immediate reaction,” Macron added, speaking in English. When he first took office in 2017, Trump’s ties with Macron -- then also a fresh face on the world stage -- began warmly despite their obvious political differences. Their long and muscular handshakes -- which saw each man seek to assert his superiority -- became a light-hearted focus of attention before ties cooled, then soured, following disputes about climate change, trade and defence. They were expected to discuss the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as trade. Trump earlier wrote on his Truth Social platform that the United States should “not get involved” in the situation in Syria, where fast-moving rebel forces say they have begun to encircle the capital Damascus. The Republican’s return to power has rung alarms in Paris and many European capitals after his promises on the campaign trail to force an end to fighting in Ukraine which could see US military assistance to Kyiv withheld. Zelensky joined the talks around half an hour later, hurrying up the steps of the Elysee and posing for a photo with the two other men. The Ukrainian president, writing on social media, called the three-way meeting “good and productive”. “We all want this war to end as soon as possible and in a just way,” he added. In his own reaction to the discussions, Macron wrote on social media: “Let us continue our joint efforts for peace and security.” Zelensky’s spokesman Sergiy Nykyforov told journalists the meeting lasted approximately 35 minutes, with only the three leaders present. Trump has scoffed at the billions of dollars in US military assistance to Ukraine and has spoken of forcing a quick settlement.
Croatia’s incumbent president wins most votes at polls but still faces runoff
None
Are you tracking your health with a device? Here’s what could happen with the data
Every day millions of people share more intimate information with their accessories than they do with their spouse.Timeline: Jimmy Carter, 1924-2024